Apple exec leaves for JC Penney

It was announced on Thursday that an Apple executive will follow former retail guru Ron Johnson to jcpenney as the department store looks to stimulate sales with a fresh look and new branding.

Benjamin Fay, former senior director of retail real estate, design and development at Apple, will take on the similarly-named role of executive vice president, real estate, store design and development at jcpenney, according to a company statement.

Fay will answer to former Apple Store chief and current J.C. Penney Company, Inc. CEO Ron Johnson and will oversee the retail strategy of the chain's more than 1,100 locations in the U.S. and Puereto Rico. The new hire will reportedly help to create an entirely new "interface for retail."

"Ben is an incredibly creative professional with extraordinary leadership skills. Having worked with him over the last 12 years, I am delighted to see Ben step into this new role at jcp," Johnson said. "His design influence has made the Apple stores highly regarded retail destinations around the world, and I am excited to have Ben place his own mark on jcp as we re-imagine the jcpenney store of the future."

Along with the general responsibilities of remodeling and maintenance of existing jcpenney locations, Fay will be in charge of the "Shops" initiative which is akin to a branded store-within-a-store. An example would be the Martha Stewart shops that are planned to roll out in jcpenney stores next year.

Prior to his tenure at Apple, Fay worked with architecture planning and consulting firm Gensler on the computer giant's worldwide chain of retail outlets.

I, for one, find this very disturbing. The new guy has NO sense of style; his stores in the UK are ugly and seemingly devoid of any aesthetic awareness. His haircut alone tells you all you need to know about his artistic sensibility.

It is highly likely that the design person who left did not leave because there was a 'new offer' from Penneys. More likely, the offer had been made in the past. The difference now is that he now has to work underneath this man who had never demonstrated any special abilities or vision, and he couldn't stand it. It is bad management at Apple that is making him leave, not the 'appeal' of Penneys.

I, for one, find this very disturbing. The new guy has NO sense of style; his stores in the UK are ugly and seemingly devoid of any aesthetic awareness. His haircut alone tells you all you need to know about his artistic sensibility.

It is highly likely that the design person who left did not leave because there was a 'new offer' from Penneys. More likely, the offer had been made in the past. The difference now is that he now has to work underneath this man who had never demonstrated any special abilities or vision, and he couldn't stand it. It is bad management at Apple that is making him leave, not the 'appeal' of Penneys.

As a stockholder, I find this very disturbing.

Don't get ahead of yourself. I am no fan of Browett, but neither you nor I actually know why Fay has left. It's one thing to wonder about a possibility, another to consider it a fact.

I, for one, find this very disturbing. The new guy has NO sense of style; his stores in the UK are ugly and seemingly devoid of any aesthetic awareness. His haircut alone tells you all you need to know about his artistic sensibility.

It is highly likely that the design person who left did not leave because there was a 'new offer' from Penneys. More likely, the offer had been made in the past. The difference now is that he now has to work underneath this man who had never demonstrated any special abilities or vision, and he couldn't stand it. It is bad management at Apple that is making him leave, not the 'appeal' of Penneys.

As a stockholder, I find this very disturbing.

He may just be unhappy because he was passed over for the promotion to Ron Johnson spot.

It will be very interesting to see if Ron Johnson can do for JCPenny what he did for Apple. The retail success at Apple may have been due to the chemistry between Jobs and Ron Johnson, or due to the level of interest in detail Jobs had for the retail stores. I don't want to take anything away from what Ron Johnson can do or has done, but until he brings about a similar level of change at JC Penny, I'll quietly watch from the sidelines.

Keep in mind that Microsoft modeled their stores after Apple's and also hired away several Apple store managers to copy the same level of customer experience within the stores. From all I've gathered, Microsoft's results are very unimpressive.

"That (the) world is moving so quickly that iOS is already amongst the older mobile operating systems in active development today." — The Verge

I, for one, find this very disturbing. The new guy has NO sense of style; his stores in the UK are ugly and seemingly devoid of any aesthetic awareness. His haircut alone tells you all you need to know about his artistic sensibility.

It is highly likely that the design person who left did not leave because there was a 'new offer' from Penneys. More likely, the offer had been made in the past. The difference now is that he now has to work underneath this man who had never demonstrated any special abilities or vision, and he couldn't stand it. It is bad management at Apple that is making him leave, not the 'appeal' of Penneys.

As a stockholder, I find this very disturbing.

Incredible how you're psycho-analyzed all the players involved and came up with your confident conclusion on what transpired based on.... absolutely squat. You have no idea what actually happened.

And no, his haircuts tells you nothing about anything. Do you honestly think Apple Browett was hired on a whim? Don't you think the hiring of someone for such a position would involve a ton of due diligence, research, etc? Does Tim Cook strike you as someone who would hire random people? Does he strike you as someone who doesn't understand what Apple is about? The answer to those is a resounding NO, if you're hesitating. Enough with these bullshit assumptions based on zero information, it's nothing but concern-trolling. As a stock-holder, you've done pretty damn well the last couple years, so you have little to complain about, and if this 'disturbs' you just go ahead and sell all your stock. You seem to have little confidence in Apple, or the people in charge.

Keep in mind that Ron Johnson did a fantastic job marketing Target before he came to Apple. The advertisements, the bringing of name designers to make products for the store, made Target 'cool' rather than another Kmart

Incredible how you're psycho-analyzed all the players involved and came up with your confident conclusion on what transpired based on.... absolutely squat. You have no idea what actually happened.

And no, his haircuts tells you nothing about anything. Do you honestly think Apple Browett was hired on a whim? Don't you think the hiring of someone for such a position would involve a ton of due diligence, research, etc? Does Tim Cook strike you as someone who would hire random people? Does he strike you as someone who doesn't understand what Apple is about? The answer to those is a resounding NO, if you're hesitating. Enough with these bullshit assumptions based on zero information, it's nothing but concern-trolling. As a stock-holder, you've done pretty damn well the last couple years, so you have little to complain about, and if this 'disturbs' you just go ahead and sell all your stock. You seem to have little confidence in Apple, or the people in charge.

I admire Tim Cook in many ways. He also has never demonstrated an 'aesthetic.' I love the company Apple, and no, I'm not complaining about its achievements. At the same time, I don't put my head in the sand when things may not be going right. It is likely that Ron Johnson left when Jobs passed him over for Cook. It is also true that what Johnson did for Target was remarkable, and shouldn't be underestimated. His unique abilities must be a large part of why it took so long to find any replacement.

I have been in England, and gone to the stores that Browett was running. They are not impressive. I don't like his personal style, and it is a fact that a talented designer has just left Apple shortly after Browett was installed. Co-incidence? Should I just not worry my pretty little head about that? I don't look good enough; I have to question things in order to get by. And to keep, yes, the substantial gains I've made thanks to Apple.

I'm not saying Apple is going down the tubes, or can't even withstand a weaker management for the retail stores for a couple years; momentum and past precedent should keep things going okay for a while. I hope they do. But I don't put my head in the sand.

A long time ago I walked into a CompUSA and saw piles of unsold 'Cubes' sitting there. Apple was at $75 then. I thought, I should sell tomorrow. But the next day, the stock was doing okay, so I didn't sell. I thought, wait another day or two. At the end of the day that I SHOULD have sold, Jobs announced that the cube wasn't selling. The stock opened the next day at $13. So instead of selling like a genius the day before, I suffered catastrophic losses like everyone else. That was under the watch of Steve Jobs, whom we all know is a great man. Even if Tim Cook is a wonderfully talented and smart guy, that doesn't mean he's infallible. So I keep my eyes open. And I don't see anything good about Browett and the architect leaving. Not one thing. Do you?

I think the new Apple Retail stores which made of of glass are totally awesome. I recently visited the new Apple Store in Houston Highland Heights is completely amazing! So, even after Ron Johnson leaving Apple, things have perfectly going fine with Apple. It seems like not matter how small and big person departs from Apple, people are getting all worked up for nothing. Based on recent earning reports - Apple earnings from their retail stores have gone up.

He may just be unhappy because he was passed over for the promotion to Ron Johnson spot.

That would seem like a stretch. He is an architect with (apparently) good management skills. JCP has over 100 million square feet of stores to fix, Apple has about 2 million that are in pretty good shape, and maybe 1 million to build or renovate over the next five years.

JCP would be a great job for any solid architect up for the task.

I do worry about a brain drain as a big risk to Apple shareholders, but I don't think we are seeing the start of that now.

Ben Fay: run far and run fast my brother. There are so many of us recently departed. The next 10 years weren't going to be any fun, so cheers to you for heading to work for the Great One. Good luck and GOOD DESIGNING!

Ben Fay: run far and run fast my brother. There are so many of us recently departed. The next 10 years weren't going to be any fun, so cheers to you for heading to work for the Great One. Good luck and GOOD DESIGNING!

Hi Gen X,

It sounds like you are a former apple design guy, and you are saying there is some kind of exodus. Is this true? Are people running from Apple now that there's no Steve, or is the new management--Cook and Browett--going off on a course you consider wrong?

It sounds like you are a former apple design guy, and you are saying there is some kind of exodus. Is this true? Are people running from Apple now that there's no Steve, or is the new management--Cook and Browett--going off on a course you consider wrong?